I had DNF’d both the physical and audio versions of this book before, but I stuck it on a short list for book club selections and my co-host picked it for January. After I finally got to chapter 4,

a plot point forced the characters to open up.

, and I was really into the story. Now I’m considering picking up the next installment, and after reading the acknowledgments I’m very interested to discuss how the author writing this during Covid affected the world building.